At risk
by Enjoyseries
Summary: Tom, Sacha, Green and Wolf land on an island for a tracking mission but nothing goes as planned. Will they make it out of there alive? Tom/Sacha-centric. Implied injured character.
1. Chapter 1

**Hello, there! I'm here again with a new story, multi-chapters this time *yay***

 **The military language, descriptions of missions and all that stuff aren't my thing but I did my best so I hope it isn't that bad, lol.**

 **Thank you again for all of your reviews for my previous stories, I don't usually answer them individually but knows that it goes right to my heart and light up my days!**

 **Again, I apologize for any grammar or syntax mistakes. English isn't my mothertongue.**

 **Enjoy the read!**

* * *

The zodiac was heading at high speed towards the land, crossing the ocean and jumping against the waves. On board were the Lieutenant Cruz, Wolf, Green, Sacha and the Captain. Their mission was simple: a part of a village on an island had been abandoned several months ago, suggesting then that a part of Peng's army had elected home there to store their bombs. With the agreement of the President, the Captain decided to go there to confirm – or not – the suspicions.

After a good ten minutes, they finally reached the coast. Cruz wasn't part of the team, only mandated to drop them and join back the ship, so did he. The rest went down the zodiac, and walked with assurance on the sand, with their bulletproof vest on, arms in hand ready to plunge into the depths of the jungle.

The trails were narrow, Tom was leading the way followed by Sacha, Green and then Wolf. Each one of them was throwing looks around through the foliage, ready to fight at the slightest misstep. They were moving slowly and noiselessly, the only sound was branches crackling under their feet. The weather was hot and humid, which made the task slightly more difficult to bear for their organism.

After half an hour of walking, the part of the jungle they had crossed began to dissipate gradually, the trail then became larger as they moved forward. Two large buildings appeared then in front of them.

"The place seems deserted." Wolf noticed.

"Stay alert, can be a trap." Tom said with a low voice.

After a few meters, Tom raised his hand above his shoulder while staying focused on his gun and motioned for his team to separate into two groups: Sacha and he would take the left building, while Green and Wolf would take the right one. Once the duets were done, they quickened the pace and reached the doors. Tom looked at Green, they nodded to each other while the Captain made a three count with his hand before opening the doors simultaneously on their respective side. When they entered, the rooms were dark, the only light was coming from the sun through the small windows high on the walls.

''It looks like an ordinary abandoned factory. No sign of the bombs.'' Sacha informed them on the radio while the two kept moving.

The tables were dusty, materials strewn everywhere, the machines were shut down as if time had stopped and that everything had been abandoned in the blink of an eye. Sacha headed to the closets along the walls, and opened them one by one, searching for anything but in vain. They soon reached the end of the warehouse where another door was locked with a chain and a padlock.

''Green, there's a lock to break here.'' Tom spoke into his radio.

''Right away, Captain.''

Tom and Sacha waited while keeping an eye around them.

''I've a bad feeling.'' Sacha finally confessed. Tom waited for her to keep going. ''It's too easy.''

''Let's see what's inside first.'' He answered by pointing the door with a light nod.

"This is the only place on the island, for hundreds of kilometers around, which can store a full armament." She paused. "We both know that Peng would never let a site such as this one without supervision."

Suddenly the door opened, causing a crash that made them jump. Instinctively, they pointed their weapons at the noise but the adrenaline immediately went down at the sight of Green and Wolf.

"It's only us." The dark-haired man said.

Green rushed to the door and let his gun falling along his body to take the clip from his back.

"What about the other shed?" Tom asked.

"Nothing to report, similar to this one except there's no other doors." Wolf said, looking around.

The Lieutenant broke the chain in two, and threw it carelessly on the floor. Sacha and Tom gave a big kick in the doors to open them. As they moved forward, boxes were opened on the tables with the same marks as those they had found a few days earlier. Unfortunately, these were empty again. Tom banged his fist on the table, his face red from rage.

"How the hell do they always have a step ahead of us!" He said angrily.

"They knew." Green ended. Sasha looked into Tom's eyes, her face all worried. He then took his radio and tried to join the Nathan James, but the line was full of interference.

"Let's get out of here." He said moving to the exit. They walked quickly still on guard, not knowing what could wait for them outside. Once they had reached the door, they took position and Wolf slid the door forcefully before taking his gun back in hands. Nothing nor no one outside, at least they believed for a brief moment.

As soon as they were out of the warehouse, three vehicles came out of the large trails on either sides. Four armed men in each car, opening fire on them without letting them a chance to escape. They shot back while withdrawing to the back of the shed in a safer position as bullets managed to reach one of the driver and two men.

Two of the cars went around, trying to trap them from the other side. Arriving at the back of the hangar, they had no choice but crossing without any protections to the rubble mount at several meters away, this was their only chance to be safe. Wolf was taking charge of the men remaining in the vehicle while Green, Tom and Sasha were trying to neutralize the other two vehicles. They walked again and again until they reached a pile of pallets and hid behind it.

"Cover me!" Tom shouted to Green and Sasha, through the sounds of whistling bullets. They executed the orders, leaned their elbows on the pallets and relentlessly fired their enemies while Tom was racing towards the other pile a few meters away from their position. After reaching the target, the three of them crouched behind the shelter and reloaded their gun. The three Navy Seals looked at each other and nodded. Three seconds later, Green and tom got up and gave a new burst of gunfire while Sacha run towards the Captain, shooting too towards the vehicles.

Halfway there, three more shots rang out from above, all reached their target. Sacha collapsed in the ground and before anyone could react, Wolf arrived next to Green and shot the man who was on the roof of the second warehouse.

"Sacha!" Tom shouted. He fired several bursts toward Peng's men before rushing towards her body. Green and Wolf covered him as he grabbed the collar of her vest and pulled her as quickly as possible to his shelter.

She moaned as he pulled her in the last few centimeters. He crouched beside her, one knee on the ground. She was still alive, her face tensed because of the pain. He pushed his gun to his back to check her wounds superficially. Two bullets had been stopped by her bulletproof vest in the abdomen, but the last was over two centimeters off, right in the collarbone. Her jacket was immaculate in red, she was losing blood quickly and abundantly. Tom looked up at his men.

"We need to move, NOW!" He shouted with all his strength.

 **TBC...**


	2. Chapter 2

**Thank you guys for your feedbacks! I'm really sorry it took me that long to write the next chapter, I know how frustrating it can be to wait after an update. I'm struggling with some personal stuff right now, plus I have an exam to re-examine in early September so I have to study *sigh*. But I do my best to write as quickly as possible!**

 **AND OH MY GOD, I just realized that I misspelled Sasha's name in the last chapter and in the summary! In my country we write Sasha with a "c", that's probably why I wasn't careful about that when I was writing. I feel so ashamed, lol. Sorry about that.**

 **Anyway, I'll let you read! I have to admit that I had been struggling a bit with this one, I tried to pay attention to every detail so everything can be as logical as possible, but I honestly don't know where this story is going. I'll have think about it more seriously but if you have any suggestions, feel free!**

 **Ps: hey, pssst… it's Sasha Cooper day!**

* * *

They had been walking for a good hour, without really knowing where they were going but they couldn't just go back to the coast with Peng's men. They had stopped running for a while, the heat was too oppressive and Sasha wasn't at the top of her form. They were breathing quite loudly, breathless with the effort and humid weather. They were forced to retreat into the jungle, opposite to where they had moored several hours earlier. Peng's plan could be guessed easily: pushing them inside the wildlife, without resources or contact with the Nathan James and track them down until exhaustion.

With each breath Sasha took, the pain was radiating throughout her chest but she would never show any weakness features on her face. She was the first to say she was fine and could walk, actually she didn't really have a choice. She was leading the way, Tom was behind on her left and Green on her right while Wolf was closing the march. But even with all the will in the world, her body was having more and more trouble to follow the step. Tom remained focused but he happened to throw a few glances at her once in a while. He was worried, he didn't know how serious was her injury but he knew that with all the blood she had been losing, it should be very hard for her to walk. After a few minutes she began to slow down, she was tapping into the last strength she had left, her vision was getting increasingly cloudy and nausea was filling her throat due to the intensity of the pain. As if he had felt something was wrong, he moved forward to reach her level but before he could ask her how she was doing, she lost her balance almost collapsing. He just had time to put his arm around her waist to catch her. "Easy, there." He told her.

Green ran towards them, Tom was still holding her while his Lieutenant took off her gun carefully without touching her arm to put it over his own shoulder. Wolf took aim at everything around them in case any danger would appear.

"Lean on my shoulder, we have to keep walking." He grabbed her safe arm, and put it around his neck. "You can do this for me?" He asked gently. She nodded, blinking slowly trying to stay focus. Indeed, they weren't allowed to stop. They had no idea where they were, or if Peng's men were still following them and they had to find a shelter before nightfall.

"Any signal?" Tom asked to his men. Wolf took his radio and tried to contact the Nathan James for the umpteenth time.

"Still nothing." He said.

"They're probably doing interference to isolate us from the ship." Sasha managed to talk weakly. Green and the Captain shared a look and Tom's jaw tensed as he tried to contain his anger.

"Come on, let's go." He finally said as they started walking again.

* * *

 _ **Meanwhile, on the Nathan James.**_

It was chaos on the bridge, everyone was at their posts and some were running among them trying to bring information as soon as possible.

"Where the hell are they?" Slattery swore under his breath. His eyes were on the radar, his jaw tight while adrenaline and anxiety were seizing his body but as a highly trained soldier, he kept his cool in front of his crew. Granderson arrived from behind, slightly breathless from all the run she had just done crossing half of the ship.

"We're still not able to establish contact with them, Sir." She said.

"Well, then make it happen!" Slattery spoke with fierce and rage. This whole war was getting on everyone's nerves, Peng was such a manipulative and arrogant sadistic man. No matter when and where, he always knew their plan in advance. "Hold on, guys." He murmured to himself.

* * *

"Wait, wait." Sasha spoke, breathless and exhausted. She stopped walking and Tom immediately looked at her.

"You're alright?" He asked. She nodded and licked her upper lip. "I just need... I just need a minute." As she slowly inhaled and exhaled, wincing a bit trying to slightly move her injured arm, Green and Wolf were looking around. Suddenly, their eyes fell on something far away.

"Do you see what I see?" Green asked to his fellow. Tom raised his eyes from Sasha to watch what they were talking about. Through the leaves, several tens of meters away, a rather large shed could be seen. No one was wandering around and it didn't seem to be occupied.

"We don't know if it's safe." Wolf said.

"We don't have much of a choice." Tom raised his eyes to look at the sky. "The night will fall soon, and I'm not sure Sasha can walk much longer." She was barely standing on her feet by her own as he was supporting almost all her weight with his arm tightened around her waist. He nodded, and the four of them started walking, leaving the trail and rushing into the jungle towards the shelter.

When they arrived closely, they held their weapons ready to shoot and opened the door. Green entered first, followed by Wolf, Tom and Sasha. The place was dark, slightly messy but it seemed far from being unoccupied as they had thought. There were scattered clothing everywhere, opened bottles and dirty dishes on the table in the middle of the room.

Tom stepped forward, with Sasha still holding onto him, and pulled aside a curtain which was separating the two rooms. It wasn't large but there was a kind of a camp bed. They made a few steps and he carefully laid her on the bed in a sitting position as she refused to lay down. A side of the mattress, there was a box with two big candles and a small box of matches. He opened it and took one of them rubbing it on the rough side to light it up, thereby igniting the wicks and illuminating the room.

When he turned his attention back to Sasha, she had already took off her bulletproof vest, not without some difficulties.

"We need to check your wound."

"No need, I'm fine."

"Don't dare arguing with me now."

"Tom.."

"For God's sake, Sasha. Take off your shirt!" He was getting angry. She could be so stubborn and careless about herself that it always drove him crazy even back in time. Usually, she would have thrown him a teasing sentence but as she crossed his gaze and with the exhaustion, she just executed what he asked. She rolled her eyes and opened the zipper of her jacket. He grabbed the collar and pulled it gently aside to get a glimpse of the injury, her right shoulder was covered in blood with a hole in her flesh from where a lot of red liquid had been flowing out for hours. She also got bruises on her ribcage from the impact of the bullets, thanks to the vest it didn't pierce her. He pulled aside a little bit more the jacket and slightly turned Sasha's body to the left so he could take a look at her back. His fears got confirmed.

"The bullet didn't get through."

"Great." She mumbled between her teeth, wincing as he put back the jacket on her shoulder.

He lowered his hands to her abdomen and touched her ribs with his fingertips. She held her breath as she felt his fingers on her skin and tried to forget about the odd feeling she was getting in her body, but seeing him so tender and caring with her didn't help. She took the time to observe his face, she had missed his blue eyes and she found herself loving the new features of his handsome face that aging caused him so well.

Suddenly she was been pulled out from her thoughts by a sharp pain as Tom applied some pressure on her bruise, she immediately grabbed his wrist with her hand.

"I'm sorry, I need to check if it's broken." He softly told her with an apologetic look. As they plunged their gaze in each other's eyes, Sasha let go of his wrist letting her fingers wandering a few seconds on his hand. She let him check on her a few more seconds.

"It must be just some big bruise." He straightened himself on his feet. "You stay here, I'll fetch water and find something to clean it." He said pointing briefly at her wound.

He headed outside the room and pulled aside the curtain. As he stepped inside, his eyes fell on something he wouldn't have expected so soon: his guys and four Chinese men aiming at each other.

 **TBC…**


	3. Chapter 3

**New chapter! Yes, already haha. I apology for this one in advance, because there's no really action and well… bleeh. I'm not proud of this one. Anyway, I hope you will still enjoy reading this! Thank you again for all the feedbacks! I love you guys.**

* * *

"Drop your weapons." Tom said pointing his gun to them as he walked forward.

"Americans?" One of them asked with a Chinese accent.

"Who are you?" Green asked at his turn. He had guessed that if they were part of Peng's army, they would have fired at them as soon as they had crossed their look.

Sasha entered then the room, having heard the short conversation. The four men turned their gun to her instinctively, but as soon as they saw she was hurt they understood why they had broken in their cabin. The middle one, who seemed to be the chief, nodded to his men and they all obeyed Tom's orders.

"We're in the same team."

"What do you mean?" Wolf asked.

"We're fighting against Peng." Tom slowly lowered his gun, Wolf and Green did the same. The atmosphere was slightly getting relaxed, but the tension could be still palpable. "My name is Juan."

"What do you know about the two abandoned warehouses in the center of the island?"

"When the virus began to spread among us, all the people got sick. They're almost all dead, others left the village hoping to survive. Peng took the opportunity to requisition the place."

"How did you get there?" Tom wasn't trusting them, and the features of his face were hard.

"We didn't leave. The virus didn't hit us, and when we saw Chinese army trucks arriving by hundred, we knew that something was getting prepared. We holed up in the jungle, found this place and have made it our hideout. We've been fighting against them for months in the shadows."

"Can they know about this place?" Green asked.

"Maybe, but until now we've always been safe." One of the men spoke a few Chinese words to his chief, as they were looking at Sasha. He then turned to Tom "What happened?"

"We got ambushed, they were too many and we've been forced to withdraw ourselves in the jungle."

"Do you have a radio or something we could use to join our ship?" Sasha walked toward the group. Tom gave her a disapproving look, but hers was fixed on Juan.

"Yes, we do have a radio, but we only use it to listen to Peng's conversations. We do not broadcast."

"Wait, you can hear their conversations?!" Wolf asked.

"Well, not really.. We still haven't found their frequency." Juan admitted.

"They're emitting interferences to prevent us from using our own radios. Can you do something about it?" Tom asked. The man turned to another one of his men and asked him in Chinese then turned back to him.

"He'll see what he can do."

* * *

"Where are they?!" Peng shouted out furiously. The Minister of the Ministry of State Security was standing in front of him, hands clasped behind his back, his eyes lowered on the floor.

"We don't know, Sir." He said.

Peng approached him until his face was at a few inches from his. He firmly grabbed his jaw with his hand and raised his head to make him look straight into his eyes.

"Find them, dead or alive." He then let go, pushing his head slightly before going back behind his desk.

"It's gonna take some time, Sir. The area of research is large." Peng's face stood up suddenly, his eyes full of anger.

"Then what are you still doing here?" Lau Hu strongly nodded before disappearing out of the office. Once he had closed the door, Peng extended his arm and sent down in a blow of rage everything on his desk.

* * *

"We're here." Juan pointed a spot on a map. "And there are the two warehouses where you've been attacked."

"Where is Peng?"

"It's impossible to say but we've found two unmapped bunkers." He said as he showed the two places on the map. "Here and there. But we have no exact certitude that he's right there or somewhere else we're not aware of."

"Is there a place where our helicopter might land?" Sasha asked.

"No, no helicopter. It's unable to land with all the trees." Tom was looking at her, her face was pale and there were dark circles appearing. Her eyes were glassy and her state didn't seem to get better with time.

"We need a rallying point where our crew can pick us up if we have to move." She kept going.

"The zodiac." Tom said as he pulled the card towards him. "There." He put a finger on it.

"Wrong choice, these are rock walls."

"Where then?" Tom raised his voice, growing impatient. Juan took a look at the map for a few seconds, then pointed something.

"Your boat can moor there, it's the only accessible and pretty safe place." Tom got up from the chair suddenly, and took a few steps.

"I don't want "pretty safe"! You need to be sure of it." He said. They were stuck in the middle of a jungle, Peng man could find them at any time and there were no way to contact the Nathan James. They were cut off from all resources and on top of that Sasha had a hole in her shoulder.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Juan asked. Tom turned to him and when he saw that he was actually talking to Sasha, his gaze fell on her.

"I'm fine." She let out weakly. She looked up slightly and closed her eyes before opening them wider, trying to stay conscious. But this time, she almost fainted. Tom came just in time to catch her by her good arm. He put his other hand on her forehead a few seconds.

"You're burning!" He threw a look at her wound, her jacket was even redder than the last time he had checked. "You need to lie down." He added in an urgent tone.

"No, I'm…" She tried to fight him, but her body finally gave up when Tom leaned over to put his arm around her back and the other one below her knees. He lifted her in no time as if she was nothing more than a bag of feathers, but the lift tore a moan of pain from her throat. He rushed to the mattress and gently laid her on. He didn't let her the chance to argue and opened the zipper of her jacket. It was really bad, she was still losing blood and the pain was being unbearable. She was breathing quickly and jerkily.

"Is it that bad?" She snorted, but seeing Tom's face she already knew the answer.

"You're bleeding to death, Sasha." He answered her seriously. They exchanged a long silent gaze and Juan burst in the room a few seconds later with Green.

"This is all we have." He said putting on the ground a few compresses, scissors and bandages while Green put down a bowl of water with a cloth. Sasha sat up slightly and hardly leaned on her left elbow. The two men then left the room.

"Tom, you don't have to do this." She told him but he ignored it. Instead, he helped her straightening into a sitting position. She pulled her left arm out of the sleeve of her jacket, and took more care with her right one. As he took the cloth and plunged it into the water, she laid back down and stared at the ceiling. Tom knew she hated being in a weak position, but she had no choice but let him taking care of her.

The bullet had entered right where her collarbone met her shoulder, he gently started cleaning the traces of dried blood around the impact. His movements were gentle as he tried to not apply too much pressure on her skin. Sasha had finally turned her head, and he could feel her eyes undressing him.

"I would have preferred that this happens otherwise." She teased him, showing out a smirk. He glanced briefly at her and tried to hide his smile but in vain.

After cleaning as best as he could, he put down the cloth and took one of the compresses in hand. He straightened slightly above her and put it down on the wound. She raised her hand to hold down the compress while he took the bandage, her fingers briefly brushed his own. They both remained silent, Tom focusing on healing her and Sasha focusing on his handsome face although she was struggling with all her strength to stay awake.

He cut a piece of adhesive bandage with scissors and put it over the wound as she withdrew her hand. "Aah, fuck." She hissed under her breath.

"Sorry". He mumbled and kept applying pressure on the compress while laying the bandage over it. "I pray God that this doesn't get infected." He looked at her, her eyes were half closed and she swallowed hard. "If it's not already." He whispered to himself.

Wolf suddenly got into his line of vision, so he turned to him.

"Captain, you should come see this." He said, and Tom nodded.

"Don't dare falling asleep, you hear me?" He spoke to Sasha, before getting up on his feet.

"Aye." She smiled weakly, blinking slowly out of strength.

When Tom joined the others, Wolf and Green were standing behind one of Juan's men who was concentrated in front of the radio. He exchanged a few words with his chief who then turned to Tom.

"He says you'll be able to contact your ship, but there's just one problem." He paused. "If a signal is emitted, Peng will immediately know where we are."

 **TBC.**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N1:** I'd like to thank you for having been patient with me, I hope you will still read it though. I'm sorry for the delay, I've had to reexamine an exam at the beginning of September and now college has started again so I'm really busy and exhausted. I forced myself to keep writing because I know you're behind me and I will do my best to keep this story on a high level. The story is almost done, I think 2 chapters left maybe.

 **A/N2:** I also have to admit that after the finale episode, I was kind of shocked and couldn't convince myself to keep writing after that cliffhanger! I will probably write something about that finale, we'll see :)

* * *

 _When Tom joined the others, Wolf and Green were standing behind one of Juan's men who was concentrated in front of the radio. He exchanged a few words with his chief who then turned to Tom._

" _He says you'll be able to contact your ship, but there's just one problem." He paused." If a signal is emitted, Peng will immediately know where we are."_

Tom's spirit was wandering in every way. The time wasn't in their favor and they needed to make a decision right now. He turned his head and looked at Sasha through the curtains; she was in a bad state and he knew that in her condition she wouldn't make it any longer. In truth, their only chance of survival was to send the signal.

"You have to know that you will be fully exposed to Peng after that and that all you've been working on until now will be destroyed." Tom said to Juan, very seriously.

"We will do anything to help you." Both of them nodded at each other, before Juan ordered his man to send the signal. They all waited a few seconds in silence, all of their eyes glued to the man who was working on the radio. They waited again, and again to get in touch with Nathan James. But no sounds came out of the machine.

"We need to move, now. I don't want to fall face to face with Peng's army." Wolf said as he started to pack his things.

"But how will your men know where to find us?" Juan asked, almost frightened as he realized that they would be out of nowhere without any backups.

"We have to head to the coast and pray that they will find us before Peng." Tom simply said.

"This is too dangerous!"

"We have no choice." Tom headed to the room where Sasha was lying. When he reached her she was barely awake, her condition was getting worse over the minutes. He leaned down a bit and slipped one arm under her knees and the other one around her back. When he lifted her in his arms, the movement and the pressure to her wound made her groan in pain. At least, Tom knew she was still with him. As he walked out the room, she instinctively nudged her head in the crock of his neck and with all the strength she had left, she clung to him with her right hand behind his neck.

He made sure everyone was ready before they all headed outside.

"Come on, Mike." He whispered to himself as they plunged again into the heart of the jungle.

* * *

 _ **On the Nathan James.**_

Everyone was at their posts; the silence and tension were reigning on the crew without disrupting their concentration. Mike was walking behind them, watching the screens in search of any clues.

"Sir, I think we've got something!" One of them yelled after Slattery, who immediately rushed to his side.

"You think?!" He replied.

"Here, there is a signal which had been emitted for a few seconds. It might be them, sir." The young man spoke with words full of hope. Mike looked at the screen a few more seconds before turning around and walking to the table in the middle of the room.

"I want you to look around this place, all the locations that can be served as hiding places, the ones we can arrive from, inputs, outputs, everything, now!" Mike ordered them as Granderson followed him right away to work on the map.

* * *

They had been walking at a good pace for a few hours now with Juan and his men leading the way while Wolf and Green were behind Tom. There was no way of wasting time, they knew they could be attacked anywhere, at any time. Sasha was still holding on Tom, but her grip was getting weaker and her head was slowly falling back as her body was losing its last pieces of strength.

"Stay with me, Sasha." Tom said as he felt her drifting away. As she heard his words, her fingers tightened behind his neck.

"Tom." She whispered weakly. He didn't say a word, but she knew he was all ears to her. "I'm scared." He could feel her hot breath against his skin but his body froze at her words.

"You're gonna be alright." At this point, he didn't even know if he was trying to comfort her or if he was simply trying to convince himself that she wasn't really dying in his arms. He brought his mouth closer to her face so she would be the one to hear his next whispers. "Don't die on me, okay?" He felt her nodding against his shoulder as he tightened his grip on her body.

 _TBC_

* * *

 **A/N3:** Sorry it's a short one, but I do my best :) let me know what you think about it!


	5. Chapter 5

**I'M BAAAACK. I'm so sorry for the delay. I told you I wasn't gonna give up on that story! I'm glad to come here and give you the last chapter of this story. I was off inspiration, that's why I decided to end the story with this chapter instead of keep writing something less interesting. I hope it wasn't too abrupt and that it will please you! See you soon with a new story, maybe ;)**

* * *

 _Red._ He hated that color so much.

He had lost all sense of time. He couldn't say if he had been sitting on that chair for ten minutes or three hours. He couldn't tell for how long his eyes were fixed on his bloody and shaking hands. _It was her blood_ , but not only. It felt like a feeling of déjà vu, as if the story was repeated itself again and again. _What if it was too late for her too?_ Everything couldn't stop looping in his head.

 _They've reached the sea after several miles of walk, without pauses or water. They were exhausted but Tom never let Sacha down, not even a single second. The fear increased by minutes as there was still no one from the Nathan James around. They were trapped on the coast and if Peng found them, then their fate was sealed._

 _Tom carefully laid Sasha on the sand, Wolf approached them and quickly removed his bag to place it under her head and support her neck. The slightest movement was causing her so much pain that she couldn't hold her moans anymore. The Captain pulled down the zip of her waistcoat and saw her bandage soaked in blood._

" _She's bleeding again!" He said close to losing his nerves._

 _Sasha, who had more and more trouble keeping her eyes opened, drew into her last strength to raise her hand and placed it on his own who was compressing her wound. She wanted to attract his attention and when he finally crossed her eyes, she smiled at him weakly._

" _It's okay." She hardly whispered. He tightened his jaw and swallowed the tears – which were threatening to escape – by lowering his head and slightly shaking it negatively._

" _You and me, we're not done yet." He gravely whispered, no one else except her could hear his words. "I promise, you're gonna be fine." He added with a broken voice._

 _The Captain turned to look at Juan and they both looked deeply into each other's eyes. Tom then nodded, and his mate didn't need any words to understand what he had meant. He reached into the pocket of his backpack and pulled out their last chance of survival: a distress gun. He was about to raise his hand, and suddenly Green abruptly grabbed his wrist to pull it down._

" _Are you out of your mind? Peng will know our position!" He yelled at him, then turned to Tom with a confused look._

" _We will also show our position to the Nathan James." Tom paused. "This is it. We live, or we die." He looked at Juan and nodded once, giving him the order. Green let go of his arm and stood back next to Wolf._ _The Chinese man raised his hand well high and pulled the trigger. By this act, they either had saved their lives or either sign their own death warrant._

 _After the detonation, a heavy silence encircled them. None dared to speak, none dared to move._

" _Chúng ta đã chết!" One of Juan's men finally said after a few minutes._

" _Shht, listen!" Wolf raised his hand to silence him. And then they all finally heard it, the whirring sound of the helicopter's propellers. They raised their head to look at the sky and a dark shadow appeared from far away, sending a wave of relief in each one of them. Tom's happy face felt apart when he turned his head to look down at Sasha, who had fallen unconscious in his arms._

"Tom.." Mike pulled him out of his thoughts with one of his hands on his shoulder. He raised his head and looked at his friend. "You should take some rest."

"I can't." He looked down at his hands.

"She's in surgery right now, we won't have any news until several hours. Staying here torturing yourself isn't gonna help her."

"I can't lose her, Mike." He whispered with a cracked voice. "It can't happen again."

"She's a fighter, I'm not worried for her." He tried to comfort him, even if deep down both of them knew there was still that damn risk. "At least go take a shower, alright?" He patted his shoulder before leaving the room.

Mike was right, he needed to take control back. His job had kept him cool in much worse situations, but today he really was struggling to get over his emotions. He raised up his head and closed his eyes, praying with all his strength for the story to end well this time.

* * *

 **Two days later.**

Things within the ship had pretty much resumed their normal course. Each had taken back its work place, and was glad to have returned safely. Nevertheless, they weren't losing sight of the fact that the war with Peng was far from over and that hostilities were, actually, only beginning.

That was why Captain Chandler had spent most of the last forty-eight hours working. To plunge into the work allowed him to conceal his feelings, and also allowed him to move forward without thinking too much.

He was at his fourth cup of coffee, it was quiet at night and he was alone in the debriefing room digging his head on a new ambush to capture his worst enemy. He almost didn't even heard that someone knocked on the door just before entering the room. When he saw his guest, his face lit up and he straightened in his chair, a smile plastered on his face.

"I thought Rio said you had to stay in a bed a few days?"

"Did you really think I was gonna listen to him?" Sasha told him with an arrogant air.

"No, of course not." He chuckled as he stood up and walked around his desk to face her. "How are you?" He said looking at her arm currently in a sling. Her hair was loose, she was wearing a dark gray long sleeve top and a simple jeans. Despite what she had been through recently, he couldn't find her more irresistible than right now.

"Pretty good for someone who took a bullet a few days ago." She tried to joke, but her smile fade away when she saw his eyes. "I'm fine, really." She said more seriously, but the shadows beneath her eyes and her drawn features betrayed her. His eyes lost themselves into hers, he couldn't describe the many emotions he was feeling right now.

"Tom-"

"Sasha-" They both said at the same time.

"Go ahead." She slightly smiled.

"About what I said when we… I-" He tried to say, but got stuck with his own words.

"It's fine, you said things in the rush... it was no big deal."

"I meant what I said, Sasha…" She swallowed, trying to hide her emotions. "We're not done." He paused again. "It's just… you know, it's complicated." He whispered.

"Wrong timing again, uh?" She sadly chuckled, looking away from his eyes and tilted her head. He slowly got closer, she was still avoiding his gaze.

"I really didn't want to lose you." He whispered, and she chuckled again at the exact words she had told him a few times ago.

"It kind of reminds me of someone..." She raised her face, faking remembering something.

He couldn't resist to her smile, and slid one of his hands behind her neck to pull her closer. His mouth crashed onto hers, the kiss was fierce as she also slid her right hand behind his head. She felt his tongue stroking the edge of her lower lips, asking for permission so she opened her mouth and let him meet hers. It had been so long since the last time he had been able to kiss her that way. He wanted her, needed her. His instincts took control over his reason and despite the voice in his head trying to make him stop, their mouths couldn't detach from each other. He pulled her closer by putting his other hand on her lower back and took the opportunity to slide it under her shirt. The feeling of his cold hand against her warm skin sent her shivers along her spine and they both felt the heat raising in the room. She slipped her arm behind his neck and clung to his jacket as if he was her last reason to live. The hand that was holding her by the neck slipped on her left hip and the pressure he applied caused her a wave of pain, making her moan against his lips. He immediately stopped their fiery kiss.

"Sorry." He said breathless. She slightly loosened her grip and slid back her hand behind his neck while he put his forehead against hers. "What did Rio say about your arm?" He softly asked.

"I have to keep that stupid thing for 3 weeks." She said, talking about her sling.

"Any sequels?"

"He said he wasn't worried about that." She raised her head, and looked right into his eyes. The silence fell over them again.

"I'm glad you're alive."

She slightly smiled and stood back from his embrace, stroking his cheek on the way. He watched her leave, and right before opening the door she turned to him.

"Thanks for saving my ass again." She brightly smiled and let him alone in his office, a smirk plastered on his face.

 **THE END.**


End file.
